Technical Field
This disclosure relates to medical instruments and more particularly to robot control systems and methods using optical shape sensing technology.
Description of the Related Art
Robotic control of real-time imaging devices (such as ultrasound imaging or any kind of optical imaging) aims to simplify positioning of an imaging device during surgical and interventional procedures. The operator is permitted to perform either remote control or image-based control of the device.
A disadvantage of remote control using traditional input devices (e.g., joystick) is that mapping of a robot coordinate frame and frames of the imaging device with an output image is not explicitly known to the operator. This mapping is usually learned during the procedure and can result in prolonged operating times.
Image guidance has other issues. These issues may include that image guidance can track only targets that are within the visual field of the imaging device while the most challenging targets, those that are not in the field, continue to be inaccessible. Image guidance also requires targets to be tracked using image processing methods that can fail due to an obstructed field of view or poor quality of the image. For example, in ultrasound imaging, devices like catheters are difficult to track due to poor visualization of the catheter tip and low signal to noise ratio in ultrasound images. Furthermore, in 2D ultrasound, the devices can move outside of a viewing plane. In optical imaging, for example, with an endoscope, the field of view can be significantly smaller than an anatomical area of interest. Furthermore, in laparoscopic surgery, devices can leave the visual field, which can cause injury to tissue as the operator needs to use visual feedback of the operating site.